Ormai prossimo il primo volo dello A400M .....

[richelieu]

Data: 01/10/09
Fonte: Flight International

TP400 engine testbed makes last flight for A400M programme

By Craig Hoyle

Airbus Military's delayed A400M programme has been boosted by the completion of a roughly 54h flight campaign for the transport's Europrop International (EPI) TP400-D6 engine.

The final flight of a TP400-equipped Lockheed Martin C-130K was conducted from Marshall Aerospace's Cambridge airport site in the UK on 30 September, the eighteenth sortie of the heavily modified flight testbed since December 2008.


© Marshall Aerospace

A further 42 ground runs of the engine were also performed using the C-130, with Marshall saying the powerplant achieved a combined running time of 110h.

"The industry project team has successfully delivered important data to provide Airbus Military and its industry partners with key information on engine, propeller and nacelle performances," says Chris Bunney, Marshall's project director A400M flight testbed.

"The data gathered from the flight-test programme further demonstrates the confidence that Airbus has in the new EPI engine and Ratier-Figeac propeller combination," the UK company adds.

Pictured during its last outing, the test aircraft was recently modified to carry a probe above its cockpit housing further instrumentation and testing equipment, Marshall says.

Airbus Military in late September installed flightworthy TP400s on MSN001, its first production example of the A400M. Lead stakeholder EADS says it is increasingly confident that the transport will make its first flight before the end of this year.

[Pershing]

22 /23 dicembre da OZP...salvo imprevisti

[gobbomaledetto]

Sembra che il primo volo alla fine sia arrivato (fotogallery da Corriere.it):

Le immagini del primo volo dello A400M

[MikeAlphaTango]

Ecco il video del decollo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX-kIUYRyDk

[richelieu]

Qui abbiamo un video più completo che comprende anche l'atterraggio ed i festeggiamenti .....



..... e un commento a margine dello stesso video .....

Airbus A400M First Flight Ceremony
A400M First Flight : Take off and Landing Highlights Maiden Flight First Seville Spain
primer vuelo Sevilla España

The first Airbus Military A400M military airlifter has landed back in Seville, Spain today at 14:02 local time (13:02 UTC) after completing a successful maiden flight lasting 3h 47min following its take-off at 10:15 local time.

Chief Test Pilot Military, Edward "Ed" Strongman, captained the flight supported by Experimental Test Pilot Ignacio "Nacho" Lombo. The engineering team on board included: Senior Flight Test Engineer Jean-Philippe Cottet who had responsibility for the powerplants; Senior Flight Test Engineer Eric Isorce with responsibility for the aircraft systems and performance; Senior Flight Test Engineer Didier Ronceray with responsibility for the handling qualities of the aircraft; and Test Flight Engineer Gerard Leskerpit.

The crew confirmed that the aircraft, known as MSN 1 and its four Europrop International TP400D turboprop engines performed as expected.

Ed Strongman said: "We have had a very successful first flight - the take-off performance was impressive, we explored a lot of the operational flight envelope, and it was a delight to operate in such a well-designed cockpit with its easy interface to all the normal and military systems. I'm sure our customer pilots are really going to like it - we certainly did."

Nacho Lombo added: "From the very beginning of the flight we were impressed by the ease of handling of the aircraft which was in line with what we experienced in the simulator. The aircraft, systems and engine performance were highly satisfactory. We sense the great potential of this magnificent machine. It has been an honour for all the crew to fly the A400M on its maiden flight, representing all the people involved in the programme."

Chief Executive Officer Airbus Military, Domingo Urena-Raso, said: "I would like to congratulate Ed Strongman, Nacho Lombo and all of the flight-test team for completing the first flight of the A400M with great success. I am also deeply grateful to everyone in the design, manufacturing and early operations of this programme for their enormously hard work and dedication that have made this aircraft a reality. And I want to thank all those people in our industrial partners and suppliers, as well as our customers, who have contributed so much to the definition and creation of an outstanding product."

Airbus CEO Tom Enders said: "I hope we can soon provide certainty that we are able to continue the A400M programme. This is expected by those at Airbus, our partners and suppliers worldwide who contributed so strongly to today's success as well as by the air forces who wait for their plane."

For its first flight the aircraft took off at a weight of 127 tonnes, carrying 15 tonnes of test equipment including two tonnes of water ballast, compared with its maximum take-off weight of 141 tonnes. As planned, the six-man crew extensively explored the aircraft's flight envelope in direct law, including a wide speed-range, and tested lowering and raising of the landing gear and high-lift devices at altitude. After checking the aircraft's performance in the landing configuration the crew landed back at Seville.

In the first half of 2010 MSN 1 will be joined by two sister aircraft, MSN 2 and MSN 3, followed by MSN 4 by the end of the year. A fifth aircraft will join the programme during 2011. This fleet will be used for some 3,700 hours of test-flying between now and first delivery to the French Air Force at the end of 2012. This will be followed by additional military development flying. The type will be certificated by both the civil and military authorities.

A total of 184 aircraft have so far been ordered by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Spain, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

[Almost Blue]

Entusiasmo!
Fossi stato uno dei grandi boss, io avrei preteso di montarci personalmente il primo volo, magari nella stiva se non mi volevano in cabina. Avrebbe fatto ancora più impressione credo, invece di rimanere a terra incravattato a sbattere le manine.
Ma dove vogliono andare con il C-130 XL? Possono pomparlo e stiracchiarlo quanto vogliono: resta un'aereo degli anni '50 del XX secolo. L' An-70 piuttosto che fine fece?

[richelieu]

Almost Blue ha scritto:
..... L' An-70 piuttosto che fine fece? .....

Non è che al momento ci siano grosse novità .....
..... secondo Wikipedia la situazione sarebbe questa .....

In April 2006, Russia announced its complete withdrawal from the project. The head of the Russian Air Force, Vladimir Mikhaylov, claimed that the An-70 has grown into a heavy, expensive cargo plane.
The Russian military plans to use the Ilyushin Il-76MF, which reportedly costs half as much as the An-70.
After the Orange Revolution in late 2004, and with Ukraine openly aiming for NATO membership, political will for the project evaporated.
Russia has provided around 60 percent of the estimated $5 billion invested in the project to date.

As of 2008, testing of the An-70 continues.
Serial production could begin in a year and a half.
A turbofan-powered derivative is also under development for China, reportedly to be named An-70-600.
.....
The project to create the An-70 plane will be completed, although Russia's $60 million debts on the plane was not been repaid in November 2009.

http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/52995/